Monitor Telegram

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse

Bringing about a higher level of transparency and accountability in provincial and federal governments to help protect taxpayers from abuse.

A Canadian lost in the wilderness of American health care

When I moved from Toronto to Los Angeles in my 40s, health-care coverage was not a huge concern. I arrived in the summer of 2001, after giving up a law partnership in a big Canadian firm to study screenwriting (please, stop laughing).

I was in the United States on a student visa and I figured I could always head back up north if anything really bad happened, health-wise. But being a die-hard Canuck, I was still anxious. What if I had an emergency of such catastrophic nature that there wouldn’t be time to airlift me home to Toronto?

I signed up for what’s known as “Hit by a Bus” emergency coverage from Blue Cross, for $450 (U.S.) a month. And got on with my screenwriting program.

Six months later, I awoke with abdominal pains so intense I could barely stand, let alone arrange an airlift home. I had a friend rush me to the nearest hospital – Cedars Sinai in Beverly Hills, where all the movie stars go to have their babies. I was not concerned that the place looked more like a four-star hotel than a hospital.

read more at theglobeandmail.com

Patients resort to paying consultants to help navigate Canada’s Byzantine health-care system

Andrée Colella had been in and out of hospital for months with bladder and bone infections when her husband, Tom, broke down and asked for help from an unconventional source: a private health-care advocate.

For $90 an hour, Jana Bartley, a former obstetrics nurse and legal nurse consultant, took charge of the family’s case.

Read more at the Globe and Mail…

Bill Morneau Says Border Tax Could Hurt U.S. More Than Canada

OTTAWA — Canada’s finance minister is warning business leaders in New York that a proposed U.S. border tax threatens to make both countries poorer — and might even hurt Americans more.

In an appearance Monday at a World Economic Forum event, Bill Morneau cautioned that a tariff-like tax would hurt families on both sides of the frontier by disrupting a mutually beneficial trading relationship and imposing extra costs on U.S. firms.

Morneau’s stronger public stance against the border tax comes after Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr noted last week that the policy faces huge opposition in Washington.

read more at huffingtonpost.ca

How to protect seniors against financial abuse

March was Fraud Prevention Month in Canada and the federal government is still reminding Canadians to be on guard against offers that seem too good to be true. Seniors, in particular, can become victims of various forms of fraud. Those who are isolated are even more at risk.

Scammers target seniors with several kinds of fraud, from telephone and email scams to fraudulent telemarketing.

One of the easiest ways for seniors to protect themselves from fraud is to order a credit report every year from Canada’s credit reporting agencies, Equifax and TransUnion. A credit report will show when someone else has opened credit cards or loans in your name. While powers of attorney and joint bank accounts can help seniors and those who care for them manage and protect their finances, these tools can be abused by people in positions of trust.

read more at thesuburban.com

Who should pay to clean up the oil patch’s Alberta mess?

The legacy of a century of oil and gas development in Alberta is much more than just riches. There are almost a half-million oil and gas wells, well over 400,000 kilometres of pipelines, and tens of thousands of assorted facilities that played a part in bringing wealth to governments, to Calgary office towers, and to regular Albertans’ pocketbooks.

But Alberta’s conventional oil and gas industry has long been mature and now is well into terminal decline, haunting the province with the spectre of cleaning up a hundred years’ poorly regulated mess.

In fact, the issue of how to reclaim many billions of dollars’ worth of environmental liabilities has grown to such proportions that I believe it is the single biggest issue facing Alberta today and threatening our tomorrow. And it could spill far beyond the province.

read more at nationalobserver.com

Quebec’s balanced budget boosts spending, cuts income taxes

While most Canadian finance ministers are struggling to keep a lid on deficits, Quebec’s Liberal government will boost spending and cut taxes on the strength of a healthy economy, growing revenue and a third consecutive balanced budget.

With one more budget to go before the 2018 provincial election, Finance Minister Carlos Leitao has already started handing out modest pre-campaign goodies. He announced about $1-billion in income-tax cuts and opened the wallet to boost spending by 4.1 per cent, mainly on health care and education.

Mr. Leitao cracked jokes and needled reporters Tuesday in an upbeat financial exercise that contrasted with dismal recent budgets in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ottawa. In the Prairies, governments are struggling to keep massive deficits under control while Justin Trudeau’s government is letting red ink spill, hoping to spur economic growth. Ontario is expected to bring its budget into balance next month, but it won’t be easy.

read more at theglobeandmail.com

Canada Marijuana Legalization: Morneau Says Feds Haven’t Decided On Taxation

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is still wrestling with how to tax recreational pot, even as it indicates it’s poised to introduce long-awaited legalization legislation next month in advance of April 20 — the “Weed Day” popularly known as 4/20.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Monday that the feds “haven’t made enough progress” in terms of taxing marijuana and several other issues related to legalizing the drug.

The focus has instead been on making sure weed stays out of the hands of children and criminals, Morneau said during a news conference in Calgary.
read more at huffingtonpost.ca

You can’t pay taxes with gift cards, warn fraud investigators

Fraud investigators are warning the public about scammers who pose as government officials and ask for tax payments with retail gift cards.

It starts with a telephone call, text, email or letter from someone claiming to be from the RCMP or Canada Revenue Agency. They may ask for personal information or demand that back taxes be paid with gift cards or prepaid credit cards, police said.

“These calls can be confusing and overwhelming, so fraudsters tend to succeed with those who aren’t thinking clearly, don’t understand the tax process, or are the most vulnerable,” Edmonton police Det. Linda Herczeg said in a news release Wednesday.

Phone numbers or email addresses may look legitimate, but the contact information ends up redirecting people back to the scammers, police noted.

read more at edmontonjournal.com